IT WAS EXCEPTIONALLY hot in South Carolina, and the air was thick and heavy with humidity. Sweat rolled down my forehead and down my neck within minutes of standing outside. I checked my phone again. "Where the hell is she?" I snapped. A woman wearing a yellow sundress and red fishing cap stepped out of the local Goodwill and looked at me as if I was the crazy one.

I heard Jo before I saw her. Music blared through the open windows of her mom's Honda. It did not look like a car that belonged to an aspiring rockstar. I climbed inside, but there was no reprieve from the heat. "Okay, Ringo, that's enough of that," I told her, turning down the music to a tolerable level. Off. She glared at me. I tried to hide my smile. "What happened to our deal? You're not backing out on me, are you?"

Rolling her eyes, Jo pulled out of the shopping center and into the heart of town. It was no surprise that the roads were vacant considering the heat. In July, no one came out of their houses unless they absolutely needed to. Jo reached for the radio, turning it to a station that sounded like nails on a chalkboard. "You said nothing about metal," she shrugged when I glared at her.

Leave it to Jo to find the loophole in any agreement. Our deal was supposed to get us to have a fulfilled summer outside of reading books or playing guitars. But if she wanted to play that game, then I would too! I pulled out my favorite book, Swords and Roses, and picked up where I left off: Lady Heathwood tending to Sir Ashwell's wounds after a horrific accident. But it didn't take long for Jo to try to snatch it. "What happened to the No Reading–No Music deal? We still have another month before school starts back."

I pressed myself into the passenger door, holding the book out of her reach. "You already broke that deal, my friend."

"Well," Jo started, lips curling into a smile. "If you listened closely, you would've heard that was my demo."

"What?"

"And that's not all. Because of that demo, I have an agent. Well, he's more like a sponsor, but that's semantics. I'm on the road to getting the fuck out of here come graduation. We're on our way to California, Claire!"

I grinned back. "You'll come visit me at Stanford even when you're rich and famous, right?"

"Duh!" Jo laughed. I did, too. It seemed like everything was falling into place. I had a few more applications to send out for scholarships and research a few more backup colleges, and Jo had a whole demo up her sleeve. We only had one more year of high school to get through and then we'd be off, getting out of this place and leaving its negativity behind.

About a block away from Jo's house, I saw movement out of the corner of my eye. A cat. There was a little tabby cat struggling to get trash out of a dumpster. "Oh no," Jo sighed, catching sight of it too.

"Pull over," I said. "I need to get it."

"And then what? Keep it?" she demanded, but the car slowed down to a stop next to the sidewalk. "I bet that'll go over really well with your mom."

"We can take it to the local shelter," I replied. She stared at me. We both knew that would be the plan until I inevitably fell in love with it on the way there. I already tried sneaking an injured squirrel into our apartment with the intent of nursing it back to health. Not only did my mother find it and cuss me out, but it turned out it wasn't even injured. "It'll be fine."

"Right," Jo said sarcastically, but I hauled out of the car without a reply. I slowly walked over to the cat. It was in an alleyway between a Mexican restaurant and the Puff and Shop smoke store. Dread curled in my chest. What if it ingested something from the smoke store and got sick? The poor thing!

"Here, kitty, kitty," I cooed, getting the cat's attention. It's ears flattened tight against its head. "It's okay! I'm Claire. I'm going to help you."

Then it hissed at me, chewing on a piece of chicken at the same time. Oh God, not the spices it was eating! Its stomach was not going to be happy about it. Hopefully Jo had an old towel or something... just in case.

"Claire! What if it has rabies?" Jo yelled, running up behind me, and scaring the cat. With a growl, it jumped on top of a pile of boxes and onto the ledge of the brick wall. Of course. If I wanted to get it now, I had to climb on top of the boxes too.

"Help me up," I said. When Jo didn't move, I groaned. "It doesn't have rabies! There is less than a one-percent chance domestic animals have rabies."

"Why do you even know that statistic?" she demanded. I tried climbing onto the boxes, but they kept collapsing under me. "Claire! Fine, fine! I'll help you!"

She clasped her hands together, letting me use them as a step up. I leaned against the brink wall for support, but I was just out of reach of the growling cat. It hissed again. Then it took a swipe at me. I rocked backwards, making Jo squawk and readjust her stance to balance me. "Claire, what's happening? It sounds like a damn lion."

"Can you lift me any higher?"

"Have you seen me in gym?" But she managed to hoist me up an extra inch, even though her entire body trembled with the effort.

I reached for the cat again. "Hi, kitty-cat! It's okay. I'm trying to save you from these nasty –"

"What are you doing?" A loud voice echoed throughout the alleyway. Jo whirled around, dropping me. I fell into the boxes, my chin hitting something that clanged. "Are you trying to steal my cat?"

The cat jumped off the ledge and landed on a small balcony on top of the Mexican restaurant. Oh, shit. "I'm sorry!" I tried to say, only to realize there was blood coming out of my mouth too. And that it hurt. "I thought – I didn't – The cat –"

"Claire! Stop talking!" Jo hollered, her eyes about to pop outside of her head. She pulled me to my feet as a woman – the woman from Goodwill, yellow sundress and all! – started climbing down the apartment's steps. "We're sorry! She was trying to rescue a cat that clearly doesn't need rescued. She's a work in progress this one. Always trying to save something."

"Get out of here!" the woman kept yelling. "And don't come back or else I'll call the cops!"

"Say less!" Jo called back before yanking me back toward her car and shoving me into the passenger side before she sped off. Did she even look before pulling out on the street? "This is why we don't pick up strays!"

"You did it with Dustin," I shot back as I rummaged through my bag. I thought I had an extra shirt that I could use to stop the bleeding. I was too afraid to look in the mirror. I felt for all my teeth and realized the blood and pain in my mouth was from biting my tongue. My chin on the other hand... There was a nice cut on the side.

Despite her anger, Jo laughed. At the next stop sign, she examined my face. Her face twisted with a rueful smile. "It's a good thing Mom's dating a doctor right now. I'm sure he left some of his stuff at the house."

I sat back in the car seat, folding my arms over my chest. "See, this is what happens when you don't let me read. Trouble finds me!"

"More like the other way around," Jo replied as she pulled into her subdivision. "Okay, new deal. You can have your books back, I can have my music, and we mutually agree we're better off with them than without."

"Deal," I said without hesitation. Swords and Roses here I come.